Chuck Ross

Oberlin College president Marvin Krislov told CNN at the time that the student rallies were “an educational moment.” He said the students “feel inspired because the institution has the courage to talk about these issues and to confront concerns and that is part of our educational mission.”

Days after the claimed sighting of the KKK member, Oberlin police Lt. Mike McCloskey theorized that the figure Tabler saw was likely a female student who had been wandering around in the same area wearing a blanket.

In June, McCloskey told TheDCNF that Tabler’s boyfriend, who was with her at the time of the incident, said he didn’t see anyone wearing racist attire.

McCloskey also confirmed for TheDCNF then that two white males had been removed from Oberlin’s campus. He would not identify the suspects, but he did note that county prosecutors had no plans to press any criminal charges which might apply.

The FBI also opened an investigation into the spate of hateful messages. Reached Wednesday, the FBI’s Cleveland office told TheDCNF that it could not comment on the case.

While officials at Oberlin have been hostile to all requests for comment since calling off classes, the closed status of the case allowed TheDCNF to obtain police reports through an Ohio Open Records Act request.

The police records indicate that Marjorie Burton, Oberlin’s director of safety and security, initially contacted local police on February 15.

A slew of reports had come in on Feb. 9. One student reported an anti-Semitic flier a campus building. A swastika showed up drawn on a glass door at another building.

Over the next two days, students reported seeing fliers with swastikas and demeaning comments about Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Feb. 11, a female student claimed that both Bleier and Alden were making derogatory comments about her online. She also stated “she had reason to believe that Alden and Bleier were responsible not only for the obscene posts about her but also the derogatory fliers that are being posted around campus.” The student said that Alden and Bleier “are good friends and always together.”

According to the student, someone using the email address marv.krislov@gmail.com directed her to a derogatory comment that had been posted about her online.

On Feb. 13, a student reported to campus officials that a racist flier had appeared on her door. The flier made a derogatory reference to Black History Month and — in all capital letters — the sexual assault of “A WHITE WOMAN!”

The unidentified student said she believed that Bleier and Alden were “responsible for this flyer being posted on her door.”